Barbells have been used for many years for exercise and physical fitness. A barbell typically consists of a straight longitudinal bar which forms a longitudinal axis with a pair of grip portions at the sides of the middle portion for grasping with the weightlifter's two hands, and a weight receiver on each end of the bar. By placing weights of different sizes on the weight receivers, a barbell of different weights can be constructed.
In use, a weightlifter grasps the barbell at the grip portions, and lifts the barbell to exercise. When a weight lifter does a bench press or a shoulder press, he uses a pronated or palms-down grip. This grip stresses the shoulders, wrists, and other joints, because the palms are not in their natural relaxed position.
Some exercises are difficult using barbells. Exercises such as the bench press, shoulder press, behind the neck press shoulder press, curls and shrugs are difficult, because some barbells do not provide clearance for movement around the user's body, specifically the head, neck or torso. This limits the range of motion. The present invention provides clearance for these exercises, because the diamond-like shape of the grip portion of the bar allows repositioning of the user's hands to provide the needed clearance. The present invention has multiple gripping surfaces, providing numerous positions for a variety of exercises.
The present invention provides gripping surfaces on crossbars that are either palm-facing-palm or approximately palm-facing-palm. This is a neutral grip, because it is the natural, relaxed position of palms, and it does not stress the shoulders, wrists, and other joints. Additionally, the interior end portion of the diamond-like shape acts as a cambered (or bowed) barbell shape that is used for upward grip curls and other exercises. None of the cited references below provide a barbell with diamond-like openings that can provide both a neutral grip on its crossbars and a cambered portion for upward grips that allows a full range of motion.
A barbell with rotating grips enclosed in a circle is disclosed in U.S. application 2008/0176723. Such a barbell is complicated in construction, and has limited positions for hand gripping, since the distance between the circles is fixed. U.S. patent application 2003/01300096 discloses a barbell with plural hand gripping positions, which hinders range of motion because the corners of the rectangular grip portion extend into areas that could impact the user's body. It also limits the variety of angles possible when gripping the barbell, because the grips are approximately orthogonal to the longitudinal bar, so that other grip angles are not possible. Design patent D317,641 discloses a dumbbell which is not a barbell and is not suitable for many of the exercises contemplated in the present invention. Design application D320,636 discloses a barbell which provides a variety of gripping positions, but appears unstable and unsuitable for heavy weightlifting, because the barbell pivoting unexpectedly along its longitudinal axis may harmfully impact the user's body, particularly the head, neck, torso, waist and legs, and cause injury. U.S. Pat. No. 2,722,419 discloses a barbell that may provide clearance for some types of lifting, but loses clearance if the barbell pivots along its longitudinal axis, possibly harming the user.